Angel-Berry Trifle

When I made this for a church function, it was favored as much as the “pecan pie cobbler” which is not diabetic friendly and is an incredibly decadent dessert in itself, especially when served with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.   I like to keep  “diabetic friendly” alternative dessert recipes on hand for family get-togethers as it gives hubby and others something they can sink their spoons in to and stay on track.  If you prefer to have it the regular way, just use the “regular” supplies, i..e, whole milk, regular cream cheese, etc.  But I promise, you will like this one just as well.  And it looks so lovely layered in your trifle bowl or individual little clear plastic cups, or small mason jars.  How cute would that be!

Angel Berry Trifle  – 

1 ½ cups cold fat-free milk

1 package (1 ounce) sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix

1 cup (8 ounce) fat-free vanilla yogurt

6 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese, softened and cubed

½ cup reduced-fat sour cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 carton (12 ounces) frozen reduced fat whipped topping, thawed, divided (I use 2 of the 8 ounce sugar free cool whips)

1 prepared angel food cake (18 inches) cut into 1-inch cubes

1 pint each blackberries, raspberries and blueberries

 

In a small bowl, whisk the milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes.  Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set.

In a large bowl, beat the yogurt, cream cheese, sour cream and vanilla until smooth.  Fold in pudding mixture and 1 cup whipped topping (or 8 ounce container of cool whip).

Place a third of the cake cubes in a 4-1t. trifle bowl.  Top with a third of the pudding mixture, a third of the berries and half of the remaining whipped topping (I use half of the other 8-ounce sugar free container of cool whip).   Repeat layers once.  Top with remaining cake, pudding, and berries.  Serve immediately or refrigerate. 

Have fun and select your own berry combination – you could also use frozen mixed fruit and sugar free fruit pie filling, such as apple pie filling or cherry pie filling. You are only limited by your imagination on this one!

Savory Rice

     What to serve with that Christmas Chicken?  Nothing else will do but to make this delectable Savory Rice.   The family gobbles this up and I always make enough to send a goody bag home so they have some for the next day  It’s so easy, mix everything together and bake! No watching or guesswork involved.   Make it with your Chicken recipe.  You won’t regret it!  It is an old Paula Deen recipe and one we will continue to make. Next time I make it I will add a variety of mushroom types to add a depth of flavor.  Experiment with this recipe and make it your own!

Savory Rice – serves 4 (double if you want leftovers)

1 cup chopped onion

1 stick butter

one 10-3/4 oz can beef broth (Campbell’s soup can size)

one 10-3/4 oz can condensed French onion soup (Campbell’s soup can size)

one 4-1/2 oz can mushroom pieces, drained

1 cup uncooked white long grain rice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   In a saucepan over medium heat, saute onions in 1 stick butter until almost tender.  Remove from heat.  Stir in broth, French onion soup, mushrooms, and uncooked rice.  Pour into casserole dish (oven proof).  Bake for about an hour, or until rice is done.  

Christmas Chicken…In April?.

     This chicken recipe was served to the family for a fancy-schmancy Christmas Dinner…and they loved it.  Thus the name, “Christmas Chicken” but it can  be made any time you want this wonderful, flavorful Chicken.  When you have had it once, you will want it again and again, right, Chandler??  Don’t be like me….I used the chicken breasts from Sam’s Club – I think they feed their chickens steroids because those things were gigantic and the family took a to-go box on some of theirs as they couldn’t finish all of it!  Don’t wait for Christmas…make it this weekend…and come back let me know how you liked yours! 

Christmas Chicken

(This recipe is for regular sized chicken breasts from grocery store – if you purchase from Sam’s Club, you will most likely need to double everything below as their chicken breasts are twice as large as the ones you get at the grocery store – also, I have adapted the recipe for a smaller portion cooking as my recipe is for 16 servings!)

8 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

 1 ½ cups sour cream

1/8 cup lemon juice

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt (Lawry’s)

1/2 tsp garlic salt

2 cups crushed Ritz crackers (May need to crush more if needed – depends on size of chicken)

¼ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup butter, melted

Place the chicken in large re-sealable plastic bag.  In a bowl, combine the sour cream, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and seasonings.  Pour over chicken; seal bag and toss to coat, making sure marinade is on all chicken.  Refrigerate overnight.

Crush Ritz Crackers in large bowl.  Remove Chicken Breasts and coat, one at a time, in cracker mix.  Place in greased 13×9 inch baking dish.  (may need to use two 13×9 dishes, depending on size of chicken breasts).  Combine oil and melted butter; drizzle over chicken.  Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until juices run clear (I bake mine at 375 degrees).

Yield:  8 servings.

Make Mine a Mango, Please!

I will be coming to see you, winner #1…..Tibi!!!!  (sorry – I have not quite learned the wonderful features in wordpress and can’t get my pictures to flip!!  Isn’t technology wonderful??!!)

 

And because I am so busy and have no idea what I am doing these days and wound up ordering TWO of these wonderful contraptions, I will be getting one of these to winner #2…..(don’t worry – this one will probably be sideways also!!! HA

 

YEP – sideways…… teeheehee…… anyway, Betty – you and those wonderful grandbabies (and Jimmy, of course) can blend till your heart’s content!  Betty – send me your address at tdingler@bellsouth.net and I will get this on its way!

So……Fabulous Friday winners…….CONGRATS!   And I hope you and your grandkids enjoy making the best concoctions ever of smoothies, milkshakes and whatever floats your boat!   Have fun!

Smoothies to go!

I love smoothies!  I especially like the Yoplait low fat yogurt fruit smoothie that you can get in the frozen section and just pop it in the blender with a little skim milk and there you go!  Healthy and good!

April’s giveaway will make it much simpler for you to get a morning healthy boost and take it with you!  Cuisinart has a great Smoothie Blender (that’s what I call it) with a 32-0unce cup capacity holder, plus 4 (count them!) individual 16-ounce to-go cups to pop on, make your favorite healthy smoothie and take it with you!  it also comes with an 8-ounce cup to chop those favorite herbs/veggies for whatever you want to use them for!  Who wouldn’t want one of these?  Shoot, I want one!    

 

Isn’t it neat?? Here’s a good description of it:

Cuisinart Single-Serve Blender

• Includes multiple cups for do-it-all versatility
• One 32-oz. blender cup for smoothies and milkshakes
• One 8-oz. chopper cup for vegetables and herbs
• Four 16-oz. to-go cups for frozen and whipped drinks
• Simple, one-handed operation

This compact powerhouse does it all. The streamlined, 32-oz. blender cup makes smoothies; an 8-oz. chopper cup minces herbs and the four 16-oz. to-go cups whip up custom drinks. Its 350-watt motor, with LED-indicated high, low and pulse keypad modes, brings big-blender performance to this one-hand-operated package.

To enter, just leave a comment and shout out your favorite smoothie flavor! If you haven’t tried a smoothie before, what flavor do you think you would like?  Strawberry/banana?  Mango?  Or a good old Vanilla?  You have until Friday when a lucky recipient will be drawn! 

Carrot Souffle – Good and good for you

When I made my meatloaf, I made Carrot Souffle as a side dish.  We really enjoyed this dish, as we had eaten  this at restaurants before and I had not found a comparable recipe until now.  This one was spot-on and did not disappoint us!  I saved mine for last and pretended it was my dessert.  I hope you will try it soon!

Carrot Souffle

 

2 cups carrots, peeled and cut into slices (1 lb)

¼ cup butter, softened

3 eggs

1 cup milk (I used skim)

1/3 cup sugar (I used Splenda Sugar Sub.)

3 Tbsp flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp Vanillla extract

½ tsp cinnamon (or a little more if you want)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a small pan, cook the carrots in boiling water until tender, 5-7 minutes, drain.  Place carrots in blender and pulse to soften, add the butter, eggs, milk, sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla and cinnamon.  Blend until smooth.  Pour in a greased 8×8 inch casserole dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Healthy….And good! Turkey Meatloaf – Mexican Style

Remember me saying that the seasoning for the Mexican Pulled Pork has become one of my favorite all-time season mixes?  I have found yet another use for this wonderful mixture!  Hubby wanted meatloaf for Sunday dinner, and since I do not eat beef, I decided to make mine out of ground turkey and jazz it up a bit and make it a “Mexican Meatloaf”.  This turned out fantastic, tasty, and the flavors could not have been better.  Put this one in your rotation to make.  You won’t be disappointed.

Mexican Turkey Meatloaf

Ingredients: (can double or triple ingredients if more than one or two are eating)

 

1 lb ground turkey

2 Tbsp chopped onion

2 Tbsp chopped bell pepper

1-2 Tbsp chopped jalapeno pepper (leave seeds in or out – your choice)

Mexican seasoning (Mix spices from the Mexican Pulled Pork and save leftover spice mixture  for other recipes like soups, seasoning grilled veggies, etc)

4 saltine crackers , crushed(because I didn’t have any bread)

Enough milk to soak the crackers and soften them up (keeps moisture in the turkey meat)

1 egg

 

Combine Turkey, chopped onion, bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, softened cracker mix, egg, and 2-4 Tbsp of the Mexican seasoning mix I never measure but I think I used around 3 Tbsp) until well mixed.   Place in greased loaf pan.

  Sprinkle top with more seasoning mix.   Bake at 375 degrees until done, around 40-50 minutes, depending on your oven. 

 

 

This was so good!   And I served it with steamed Broccoli and Cauliflower mix and a Carrot Souffle.  The recipe for the Carrot Souffle will be posted later.  It, too, was divine.  I ate it last – it was like a dessert and I used Splenda in it so that hubby could have it.  Let me know if you try this.  Happy April!

Lemonade….. 25 cents a cup

Did you have a lemonade stand when you were little?  If you didn’t, you missed out on fun with either your siblings, cousins, or best friend!  It didn’t matter whether you sold any lemonade or not, because while you sat there together, you solved all the world’s problems, or what games to play when you finished that task!  Fun lazy, summer days, spent outside! I’m afraid those are no longer the case now.  

I saw this recipe somewhere on line, maybe on Pinterest, and will be making it at an upcoming family gathering.  It sounds good, cool, and refreshing!  

Make some soon, and get outside!

Best Lemonade

1 cup lemonade mix (I will be using Crystal Light and figuring out the ratio amount)

2 cups cold water

1 can chilled (46 ounce) pineapple juice 

2 cans chilled Sprite (I will be using diet Sprite)

Mix and enjoy!    

Let me know if you make some and how yours was!  Happy Spring!